Page 98 of Demon's Beauty

“Soleil’s sister is mated to Callum,” Finn helpfully chimes in. “We met when she was here visiting Seren.”

Not quite the truth, but passable, and I toss him a grateful smile.

I doubt I’d win many points with his family if they knew the truth about how I reacted the first time we met.

“A shame, truly,” Ellery sighs, though quickly turns to me and corrects herself. “Sorry! Not to imply anything negative about you or your sister, but have you seen Callum? I swear I was half in love with him when I was younger. The whole gruff, broody mercenary thing really did it for me, you know?”

I let out a surprised laugh. “I can see why that would be appealing.”

A low rumble echoes in Finn’s chest, and he reaches over to grab my hand. “Careful, sunshine.”

I grin at him, and when I finally extinguish the little hearts from my eyes, I find Lynore looking at me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

Fortunately, I escape from the hot seat for the next few minutes.

The three Nighfalls talk about happenings at court and in Gales Harbor—easy conversation that makes my chest ache a little remembering nights I used to spend with mom, dad, and Seren before everything fell apart.

I’m happy enough just to listen, to hold Finn’s hand and enjoy learning more about their lives, but it turns out I can’t escape the spotlight forever.

After a few more minutes, Lynore stands and nods toward the wide doors leading to the outdoor living space.

“Soleil, will you join me for a chat on the terrace?”

“Ma—” Finn starts, but I cut him off.

“Sure. That would be lovely.”

I can feel his crimson gaze on me as I rise, but if Finn’s mom wants to talk, we can talk.

I’m a guest in her home, and this whole thing is bizarre anyway, so maybe it won’t be that bad.

Maybe.

Probably.

I don’t know.

We leave Finn and Ellery to their own devices, and again, I’m struck by the breathtaking beauty of this place as we walk out into the balmy night air.

It’s almost fully dark now, and the city spreads out all around us. Sparkling with thousands of points of light and sloping all the way down to the night-dark water, I stand at the railing for a few moments and simply admire.

Lynore joins me there. “Tell me about yourself, Soleil.”

“I… uh, what would you like to know?”

“Anything you’d like to share,” she says breezily, like the request isn’t one of my worst nightmares.

Talk about myself? Hard pass.

But for Finn’s mom? Yeah, I should probably suck it up a little.

I can’t imagine how wild it must be to have your kid come home and tell you he’s magickally found the one being in all the thirteen realms who the Goddess has fated to be his.

Must be a hard concept to wrap your mind around.

It makes me think of my own parents, of how they’ll react when I introduce them to…

No.